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Umbra
Umbra is a character developed for Annika Doll's Elemental Mew Contest. Her Mew Form is Mew Haze. Umbra is small for her species, reaching only 5'1" and having a slender frame. She otherwise looks like most Caligans, with pitch black skin, white, pupil-less, almond-shaped eyes, a lack of visible ears, nose or mouth, and dark grey hair with the consistency of smoke. Umbra enjoys wearing Earth clothes, though her outfits don't always match. As Mew Haze, she wears a grey turtleneck leotard — the arm and leg-holes of which are lined with white — and a pair of grey boots that end below her knees. Lastly, Umbra has a white collar around her neck with a gold and red pendant hanging off of it. Umbra is a highly curious and adventurous being, constantly on the search for new knowledge and experiences. Umbra can often be surrounded by books and other various forms of media, researching whatever her current obsession is. She's specifically fascinated by music and fashion, two things that didn't exist on her home planet of Caligo. She's a hands-on learner and loves to experiment; these experiments can range from pairing random articles of clothing together for an outfit to mixing various substances together just to see the result. Though she can be a little flighty and easily distracted, Umbra is a kind, brave, and loyal woman, willing to fight tooth and nail for the things and people she holds close to her heart. She has strong morals and would rather die than betray her allies. Umbra often comes off as dense, blunt, and socially awkward due to her lack of knowledge surrounding human etiquette and cultural differences between Caligans and humans. She's still getting used to all the freedom she has on Earth and will often push the limits of what she can and cannot do. Like all Caligans, Umbra has the ability to morph between a solid and gaseous form, making her impervious to physical attacks and allowing Umbra to pass through spaces that'd be impossible for a solid being, such as the gap underneath a door. This ability does have a weakness, however, as wind can cause her gaseous form to disperse; she'd be able to regain her solid form, but it'd take longer than usual to completely reform, leaving her with missing body parts. She also has the power of telepathy, an ability shared by all Caligans due to their lack of mouth or vocal cords. She can't read minds but can hear thoughts directed at her, and any thoughts in other languages are automatically translated into Caligan. Umbra can telepathically converse with multiple people at one time, and allow all involved to hear what the others are 'saying'. She can also use this psychic ability to mentally connect with the creatures living on Caligo, but doing so takes intense concentration and she can only connect with one creature at a time. Umbra's fighting style is very unpredictable, as she's constantly testing out new strategies. She uses her gaseous form — morphing her entire body or just particular areas — in order to avoid attacks. Her weapons are the Shining Chakrams, a pair of chakrams with blades made of light. Umbra was born on Caligo, a planet inhabited by a species called the Caligan, who communicate entirely by telepathy and can switch between a solid and gaseous form. The Caligans used their abilities and unique fauna to invade and conquer several planets before either killing or ejecting the inhabitants. While most Caligans accepted this as normal, groups of protesters did exist — though these groups were sparse and often killed in order to prevent an uprising. Umbra's parents were part of the latter group, and their death at the hands of the emperor's soldiers left her orphaned. Caligo has a strict hierarchy, and unfortunately, orphans — especially one whose parents went against the emperor's word — were near the bottom. Caligo also has no orphanages, and most orphans are either taken in by family friends, left to survive on their own, or — in the case of many lower class orphans — become a servant to an upper class family, which is what happened to Umbra. Life as a servant was not pleasant for Umbra. The family she worked for treated her as an inconvenience, and would only interact with her when they needed her to do something. They were also very controlling and prevented Umbra from engaging in any hobbies, as they may distract her from performing her duties. This left Umbra extremely bored and desperate for something to occupy her mind. Umbra's wish eventually came true when she was informed that the family would be joining the campaign to conquer a new planet, referred to as 'Earth' by the humans who inhabit it. Despite their clear disadvantage against the Caligans, the humans refused to go down easily and began fighting back, resulting in an all-out war between the two species. Like her parents, Umbra is disgusted by her people's actions, but has long since accepted that she has no power to stop it. She instead takes advantage of the distraction the was is causing to sneak away from her masters and explore this to planet. To avoid being noticed by the humans, she observes from afar, often in her gaseous form. She soon grows fascinated with the humans; the way they act, their languages, their diversity, the flora and fauna that covers their planet. It was all so different from the homogeneous, soldier-like Caligans. It's during one of these expeditions that she spots a group of humans engaged in battle with one of the creatures brought from Caligo. Umbra had previously witnessed how ineffective the humans' weapons were against these creatures, and is aware that the humans would be killed if no-one intervened. Despite the danger that exposing herself would bring, Umbra rushes out of hiding and begins throwing objects at the creature in order to attract its attention. Once that's achieved, she connects with the creature's mind and directs it away from the humans. Once the area is clear Umbra prepares to flee from the humans, who now have their weapons trained on her, but before either party can act a thick, heavily locked door built into a hill that the humans had been standing in front of opens, revealing a man in a white lab coat. The man stays at a distance, surrounded by the armed humans, but tries to talk to Umbra. Umbra uses her telepathy to explain that she can't understand him, and that he needed to communicate through his thoughts. Doing as told, the man introduces himself as Bernard Novak and thanks Umbra for saving his men, but questions her motives for doing so. Umbra explains that she doesn't agree with the war, and didn't want to see innocent people be slaughtered by a creature that her people brought to Earth. Umbra also mentions that she wishes there was more she could do to help. Bernard seems to consider something before making a proposition. "You want to help us? I can make that happen." Umbra quickly accepts, and Bernard instructs his soldiers to escort the Caligan woman inside. The group make their way through a simplistic bunker, the inhabitants of which cast looks of fear and suspicion, as Bernard gives a more detailed explanation of the current situation. Bernard is part of a team of scientists working for the government, who also own the bunker they're currently in, and they've been studying the Caligans to try and develop effective countermeasures against them. In fact, the fight that Umbra interrupted was their most recent failure. Having an actual Caligan on their side will allow the team to find a solution much faster. After reaching a room that Bernard has to open with a key card, Umbra is introduced to the rest of the team: Lila Horowitz, Daniel Jackson, Sara Choi, Thomas Norton, and Delta Matthews. They chide Bernard for being overly trusting and letting a Caligan into the bunker, but he brushes them off. Delta instructs Umbra to enter a chamber in the lab and explains that, for security reasons, she'll need to be contained in an airtight chamber until she can be deemed safe and trustworthy. Once Umbra is safely in the chamber, the team begin questioning her; asking about her people's abilities, their strengths, their weaknesses. Umbra answers all their questions, except for the one about weakness, she wants a question of her own answered first. "Why do you trust me, Bernard?" Bernard is quick to answer. "We have cameras outside, I've seen you watching us. You could've killed us, or told your people about us, but you didn't." This seems to placate Umbra. "A Caligan's gaseous form can be dispersed by wind, but that's just temporary. We're sensitive to light, as are the creatures we brought, it's why our soldiers often attack at night." Umbra staves off her boredom by talking to the scientists as they work; at first, most of the scientists prefer to ignore Umbra or give her single-word answers unless it's related to their research, with Bernard being the only one to regularly chat to her. As the months pass, however, the others begin to open up. It starts with Delta asking Umbra why she gets so excited whenever someone plays music, and Umbra answering that her people didn't listen to music, so it was a new experience for her. Soon enough, the other scientists join in; conversing with her, and even teaching her some basic English phrases. By the time they're finished with their current project Lila is the only one who's still reticent towards Umbra, but even she was starting to soften. The team present the results of their research; a pair of rings that seem to be entirely made of light, aside from their solid grips. Bernard then reveals that he wants to train Umbra to use them, as her Caligan abilities would give her an advantage over a human. Umbra excitedly agrees to the idea, and the training commences. Along with her weapons, which were nicknamed the Shining Chakrams, the team also design a simple outfit that's easy to move in, as Caligans don't have a need for clothing and this would allow the humans to know that she's not affiliated with the enemy. Delta even gives Umbra a code name, Mew Haze. They have her practice on training dummies, mannequins, and various inanimate objects that are suspended from the ceiling or thrown through the air to refine her aim. They also give Umbra a collar with a pendant attached that has a built in tracking device and buttons that send out various alerts to mission control, so that she can contact the scientists and they know her location if anything happens. The security cameras spot a Caligan creature approaching the base, and the team decide it's the perfect time to test Umbra's skills out on the field. Umbra is brought outside and engages the creature in battle. She makes a few mistakes — as fighting a large creature actively trying to kill you is different from a stationary dummy — but still manages to overpower her opponent, reducing it to nothing with her chakrams. After reporting the results to their superiors, the scientists celebrate their success. It's only the start, but Earth now has a way to defend themselves from the invaders. Bernard and Umbra are very close, as he was the first human to ever positively interact with her and didn't automatically label Umbra as some dangerous, evil, monster. He likes telling her about different human cultures, occasionally slipping in some random unrealistic 'facts' as a joke. Lila and Umbra's relationship is somewhat strained, as Lila is a private, quiet woman with little patience for Umbra's constant questions, she was also the last of the scientists to start talking to Umbra for non-research related reasons. As the most safety-conscious person on the team, Daniel is usually the one to keep an eye on Umbra and prevent her from doing anything dangerous. He's also one of the scientists trying to teach Umbra some English, as some people in the base don't feel comfortable allowing an alien access to their brain, even if she can't cause any harm with her telepathy. Sara and Umbra first started talking when Umbra saw a picture of Sara's cat, who lived in the base, and wanted to know what the animal was. Sara soon got into the habit of taking photos and videos of the cat specifically for Umbra to see. After Umbra no longer had to be confined in the airtight chamber, Sara took Umbra to see the cat in person. As the youngest member of the team, Thomas enjoys having Umbra around, as they're similar in age. Umbra's first conversation with Thomas started when she called his British accent 'pretty'. He'd never admit it, but he's grown a small crush on the alien woman. Delta was the one who introduced music to Umbra, as she likes having background noise when she works. Delta usually listens to Blues, but has started playing various genres so Umbra could 'get a taste' of all the different styles that are available. Umbra was designed in Kisekae 2 and received small edits in Paint 3D. Though I usually design Mews that fit within the bound of canon, for this contest I decided to challenge myself and create a character completely different than my other Mews. I considered making a Mew based around fire, smoke, or darkness before settling on light. Umbra is a Latin word meaning 'shade'. Haze is a fog/smoke/mist that makes it difficult to see. * Umbra isn't actually her name, but instead a transliteration of her Caligan name. Mew Haze Contest Prize (AnnikaDoll).png| By AnnikaDoll Chakram.jpg|Chakram Category:Mew Mews Category:Aliens Category:Females Category:Heroes Category:Gray Mews Category:Mews with No Genes Category:Weapon Users: Blades Category:Weapon Users: Rings Category:Weapon Users: Light Category:Annika's Elemental Mew Contest Category:Historia's Things